Caffeoylquinic Acids and Flavonoids in the Immature Inflorescence of Globe Artichoke, Wild Cardoon, and Cultivated Cardoon

Abstract

The species Cynara cardunculus is consumed as part of the Mediterranean diet and consists of the globe artichoke [var. scolymus (L.) Fiori], the cultivated cardoon (var. altilis DC.), and the wild cardoon [var. sylvestris (Lamk) Fiori]. The objective of this study was to investigate, in immature inflorescences, the main flavonoids and phenolic acids (caffeoylquinic acids, apigenin, and luteolin derivatives) by HPLC/diode array detection/mass spectrometry. Apigenin derivatives represented the major class in all samples investigated, highest in cardoon forms. Caffeoylquinic acids and luteolin derivatives were observed in var. scolymus only. Data allowed discrimination of globe artichoke from the related species on the basis of the profile of compounds analyzed. Our results suggest the possible use of cultivated and wild cardoon as a source of phenolic acids and flavonoids and indicate that artichoke consumption is an excellent dietary source of apigenin and other flavones.

Comparative Chemomapping of Phytoconstituents from Different Extracts of Globe Artichoke - Cynara Scolymus L.

“…Our study was meant to identify all possible phytoconstituents with the used experimental setup, and as a consequence 49 and 51 molecules were described in the aqueous and hydro-alcoholic artichoke extracts, respectively. Some of the newly identified compounds were confirmed by standards, while other compounds have already been reported by others [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26].…”

Infusions of artichoke and milk thistle represent a good source of phenolic acids and flavonoids

“…15,37,40 Compound 20 presented a pseudomolecular ion [M − H] − at m/z 461 releasing a fragment ion at m/z 285 ([M − 176] − , loss of a glucuronyl moiety); although the position of the glycosyl moiety could not be established it was assigned to luteolin 7-O-glucuronide, owing to the identification of that compound in leaves, heads, hearts, juices, pomaces and dietary supplements of artichoke, mostly obtained after hydroalcoholic extraction. 13,15,16,32,33,[35][36][37]39,40 In accordance with their UV and mass spectra characteristics, different apigenin derivatives were also detected in the analysed samples. Compounds 24, 27 (artichoke) and 26 (artichoke and milk thistle) showed pseudomolecular and fragment ions coherent with deoxyhexosyl-hexoside, hexoside and glucuronide derivatives of apigenin, respectively.…”

“…Despite the many articles reporting the phenolic composition of artichoke hydroalcoholic extracts, 13,15,16,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40] the present work characterizes the phenolic composition in infusions. Moreover, infusion is the most common form to consume this plant and, to our knowledge, this is also the first report presenting results for the whole plant material and not seeds.…”

“…41 Dicaffeoylquinic acids have been extensively reported in Table 2 Retention time (Rt), wavelengths of maximum absorption in the visible region (λ max ), mass spectral data, identification and quantification of phenolic compounds in hydromethanolic extract and infusion of milk thistle (mean ± SD) a hydroalcoholic extracts obtained from different parts of artichoke, as mentioned above. 13,15,16,[31][32][33][34][35][36][38][39][40] Four signals in artichoke (compounds 4, 9, 11 and 13) showed a pseudomolecular ion ([M − H] − ) at m/z 337 (Tables 1 and 2). These compounds were assigned as the 3-acyl, 4-acyl and 5-acyl isomers of p-coumaroylquinic acid based on their HPLC retention and MS 2 fragmentation characteristics, as previously reported by Clifford et al 29,42 Thus, compound 4 (artichoke) was tentatively identified as 3-p-coumaroylquinic acid, yielding the base peak at m/z 163 ([coumaric acid-H] − ).…”

“…9,10 Besides their strong antioxidant activity, phenolic compounds also revealed a capacity to inhibit the growth of tumor cell lines such as mammary, epidemoid, and hepatocellular carcinoma, among others, in a large number of studies. 11 Artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) and milk thistle (Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn) are two medicinal plants in which phenolic compositions of hydroalcoholic extracts were documented in different studies [12][13][14][15][16][17] due to their implication in these herbs' major medicinal properties, including antioxidant, chemopreventive, hepatoprotective and antiviral. 18,19 In previous studies, artichoke hydroalcoholic extracts have proved to be a good source of flavonoids such as luteolin and apigenin glycosides, and mono-/di-caffeoylquinic acids and derivatives, the main factors responsible for its therapeutic effects.…”